Eurovision 2014: Moldova: Wild Soul

Moldova: Cristina Scarlat

Ever since Moldova chose its Eurovision song last month, it has been one of those countries that has been largely ignored. No compelling arguments about its chances either way have been put forth and consequently it has fallen under, or virtually off, the radar.

Cristina Scarlat was chosen to sing Wild Soul, a song with text by her niece Lidia Scarlat. Cristina is an accomplished singer and it shows during this fraught power ballad.

It very much has the feel of a James Bond theme: dramatic, dark and with lyrics to match.

Unfortunately, despite the excellent singing skills, Cristina does not quite pull it all together. There are some dreadful diction problems with her English, which begs the question: Why not perform it in her native language?

Perhaps an English version was thought to have more of a chance with voters, but to be honest, her pronunciation is doing the song no favours at all.

And then there is the question of the staging. A song like this really needs no added distraction. Please dispose of the male dancers - one of which looks very precarious as he comes on stage. The tin foil needs to go as well when it's performed in Copenhagen. It just looks way too cheesy and adds nothing to the performance of the song. Change the dress too, Cristina.

Will Wild Soul make it to the final, though? The simple answer is: unlikely. It's included in the much more competitive semi-final one and is up against some of the powerhouse entries this year. Despite Moldova's great showing at Eurovisions past, this year the country could easily fall at the first hurdle.

What do you think?


Image by Viorica Atanasov [CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons